An Act to amend and reenact § 46.1-299, as amended, of the Code of Virginia, relating to devices signalling intention to turn or stop and rules therefor.
Volume 1968 Law 99
Volume | 1901/1902 |
---|---|
Law Number | 232 |
Subjects |
Law Body
Chap. 232.—An ACT to amend the charter of Birchfield Coal and Coke Company,
and change its name to Stonegap Colliery Company.
Approved March 15, 1902.
1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the charter
granted by the judge of the circuit court of Wise county, Virginia, on
the twenty-sixth day of December, nineteen hundred and one, incorpo-
rating Birchfield Coal and Coke Company be amended and re-enacted so
as to read as follows:
2. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That R. A. Ayers,
J. R. Gilliam, J. Singleton Diggs, L. O. Petit, and J. B. Ayers, or such
of them as may accept the provisions of this act, their associates and suc-
cessors, be, and they are hereby, incorporated under the name and style of
Stonegap Colliery Company, and by that name shall be known in law,
and shall have perpetual succession, and have power to sue and be sued,
plead and be impleaded, defend and be defended, and make and have a
common seal, and alter and renew the same at pleasure; and shall have,
enjoy, and exercise all the rights, powers, and privileges pertaining to
corporate bodies and necessary for the purposes of this act, and make
by-laws, rules, and regulations consistent with existing laws of the State
for the government of all under its authority, the management of its
estates and properties, and the due and orderly conduct of its affairs.
3. The said company is authorized and empowered to purchase, hold,
own, lease, and control in any manner; grant, bargain, sell, mortgage,
convey, and otherwise dispose of real and personal estate in this State,
and may deal in goods, wares, and merchandise; and the said company is
authorized and empowered to lay out its lands, or any part thereof, into
parcels or lots of convenient size, with intervening roads, lanes, streets,
and alleys, and develop, work, improve, and cultivate, or otherwise dis-
pose of the same in such manner and upon such terms as the said com-
pany may think proper, and may contract for, purchase, lease, hold, con-
etruct, operate, and maintain any work of public or private improve-
ment in the State or elsewhere within the scope of its powers as authorized
by this charter, with the right and power of laying out, constructing, ac-
quiring, and operating any railroad or railroads, or other road, from any
of the lands or works of said company to any point or points on the Nor-
folk and Western railway, and Louisville and Nashville railroad, and the
Virginia and Southwestern railway, or any of them, or any other rail-
road that is now, or may hereafter be, constructed in or through the
county of Wise, in this State, not to exceed twenty miles in length, and
may acquire rights of way therefor by condemnation pursuant to the
general laws of this State regulating the condemnation of rights of way
by railroad companies: provided, however, that nothing in this section
shall be construed as exempting the said company from the provisions of
chapter fifty-one of the Code of Virginia, edition of eighteen hundred
and eighty-seven.
4. The said company is authorized and empowered to mine and quarry
coal, iron ore, marble, limestone, and other mineral] substances, and pre-
pare and manufacture the same for use and sale in whatever manner or
form it may adopt; and to manufacture and prepare for market and sale
all other raw materials, mineral or vegetable, produced by or from its
own lands, or obtained from others; and for such purpose may erect and
operate all kinds of furnaces, mills, manufactories, coke ovens, works,
and machinery necessary for the enjoyment of the privileges herein
granted to the fullest and most ample extent.
5.-The capital stock of the said company shall not be less than one
hundred thousand dollars, divided into shares of one hundred dollars
each, and may be increased to any amount not exceeding three hundred
thousand dollars by issue and sale of shares thereof, from time to time,
under such regulations, upon such terms, and at such price as the board of
directors of the said company shall, from time to time, prescribe ; and the
directors may receive money, land, or other property, real or personal,
leases, options, mines, minerals, or other rights or easements, labor or
service, in payment for subscriptions to the capital stock at such valuation
as may be agreed upon between the directors and the subscriber.
6. The said company may hold such amount of real estate as may be
convenient or necessary for the use and enjoyment of the powers and
privileges herein conferred: provided, the same shall not exceed twenty-
five thousand acres.
%. The persons first named in this act, or such of them as accept the
provisions of this act, shall constitute the first board of directors of the
said company, and shall continue in office until the first meeting of the
stockholders thereof. At such first mecting, and at every annual meeting,
so many directors shall be elected as may be prescribed by the by-laws and
regulations of said company, who may be removed by the stockholders in
general meeting; but unless so removed, shall continue in office until
their successors shall be elected and qualified. Each stockholder in the
company shall at all meetings, or elections thereafter, be entitled to one
vote for each share of stock registered in his name.
8. The board of directors shall] be stockholders of said company. They
shall appoint one of their number president, and may fill any vacancy
that may occur in said board, unless by removal, in which case the same
shall be filled by the stockholders in general meeting. Whenever the
minimum amount of capital stock herein named shall have been sub-
scribed, and the board of directors shall have elected a president, said
company shall be considered legally organized, and may proceed to the
transaction of business. The board shall appoint, to hold during its
pleasure, the subordinate officers and agents of the said company, pre-
scribe their compensation, and take from them such bonds, with such
security, as they may deem fit.
9. The board of directors may establish offices at such places as they
deem proper, but the principal office of said company shall be located in
the State of Virginia.
10. The annual meeting of the stockholders of the said company shall
be held in the town of Big Stone Gap, Wise county, Virginia, on the first
Wednesday in June of each year, or on such other day and at such other
place as the stockholders may, by resolution adopted in any annual meet-
ing, to take effect at the next annual meeting, prescribe. A general meet-
ing of the shareholders of said company may be held at any time, as pro-
vided by the ninth section of chapter forty-seven of the Code of Vir-
ginia, edition of eighteen hundred and eighty-seven.
11. The said company sha]] and may issue and sell certificates of stock,
either preferred or common, in said company to subscribers thereof in
such amounts and on such terms and at such price as the board of direc-
tors of said company shall, from time to time, prescribe, and certificates
to be signed by the president and countersigned by the secretary of said
company shall be issued therefor: provided, that no preferred stock or
shares therein shall be issued or sold by the said company unless the
issue and sale of the same shall have been previously authorized by a ma-
jority of the stockholders of the said company present, either in person
or by proxy, at a general meeting of such stockholders. The said certifi-
cates shall be transferable only upon the books of the company by the
said subscribers, their personal representatives, or duly authorized agent
or attorney; and the said certificates, when so transferred as aforesaid,
may be returned to the said company and cancelled, and new certificates
of stock shall be issued in lieu thereof to the person entitled thereto for a
like number.
12. It shall be lawful for the said company to issue and sell its bonds,
from time to time, for such sums at such price and on such terms as its
board of directors may deem expedient and proper in prosecution of any
of its works or business; and to secure the payment of said bonds by
mortgages or deeds of trust upon all or any of its property and fran-
chises, including its franchise to be a corporation; and to subscribe for,
purchase, or otherwise acquire the capital stock or bonds of any other
incorporated company whenever the board of directors of this corpora-
tion shall deem it to its interest so to do.
13. No stockholder in this corporation shall be liable or responsible
for its debts and liabilities in a larger or further sum than the amount of
any unpaid balance due to this corporation for stock subscribed for hy
said stockholder.
14. This corporation shall pay in current money of the United States
all its taxes and other demands against it due the State.
15. The charter hereinbefore granted, except as to matters herein
otherwise specially provided for, is hereby declared to be subject to the
provisions of the general law in regard to chartered companies and cor-
porations as expressed in the Code of Virginia, edition eighteen hundred
and eighty-seven, chapters forty-six, forty-seven, and fifty-one.
16. This act shall be in force from its passage.